


Attitude Shift

by ThatMasterOnline



Category: Detroit: Become Human (Video Game)
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-03-31
Updated: 2019-03-31
Packaged: 2019-12-30 00:01:26
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 767
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18304178
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ThatMasterOnline/pseuds/ThatMasterOnline
Summary: Conrad suffered for a week at the hands of a maniac. Turns out, the experience changes Gavin, too.





	Attitude Shift

**Author's Note:**

> I wrote this for a friend who had the idea, because I loved it so much. It goes along with an RP we're doing on Tumblr.

Gavin was put off by this creep. Yeah, he got it, androids were weird and creepy. They looked human and sounded human, but how human were they really, even with all this deviancy stuff? Seeing a piece of technology insist it had feelings could be off-putting. He got it, he did. This...went beyond discomfort, or even hatred. It was just...apathy.

“You’re under arrest for abducting and torturing a DPD officer,” Gavin said as he cuffed him, and the man outright rolled his eyes.

‘Oh please, I didn’t torture anybody. It didn’t feel it, not really. It’s ones and zeroes and a very convincing scream, not actual pain. Not like humans feel. Yes, it screamed and begged me to stop, but that’s what it was programmed to do when somebody touches it with something sharp. The truth is it felt about as much pain as a tin can.” Gavin shuddered with revulsion at the words. How many times had Gavin called his own partner a tin can who didn’t really feel anything? A lot, he could admit to that, but for this man to say that Conrad didn’t feel the pain that was being inflicted on him? Gavin had heard Conrad’s screams as they closed in on the man. His long career as a detective had unfortunately given him an intimate awareness of the difference between fake screaming and genuine pain, and the sounds coming from Conrad were nothing short of agony. Real, genuine agony, machine or not.

Besides, wasn’t pain just the transmission of electrical signals to the brain, even in humans? Androids were literally all electricity, so it followed that electricity being transmitted to the brain was a very real possibility.

“...Did you know that theoretically, androids can suffer infinite damage and not shut down? Provided the damage doesn’t harm any biocomponents or leak too much blue blood, they could theoretically survive endlessly. And it’s true. I was very careful to make sure none of the damage I inflicted on it was even close to lethal, and it’s endured the entire week, completely awake and never once shutting down. It tried to go into stasis mode more times than I could count, though. I couldn’t let it if the experiment was going to be unbiased, so I turned off stasis mode.”

Stasis. That was the final straw. Even a dickwad partner like Gavin knew enough about Conrad to know that he loved sleeping. Here, in the face of the pain, the torture...Conrad was trying to escape, even for a few moments. And this asshole wouldn’t let him have even a moment’s reprieve. Gavin slammed the man against the wall, holding him up by the collar.

“Listen here you, son of a bitch, I don’t want to hear you justify torture to me, okay? You hurt my partner, and if I hear another peep out of you I swear to god I will fuck you up.”

“...I didn’t hurt your “partner”. The word partner implies that it was your equal. It would have had to have been human for that.”

Gavin pulled back and punched him straight in the nose. And then the cheek, and then the mouth. And then again and again, until Tina pulled him off the man.

“Go chill, Gavin, okay? I’ll take care of this asshole.” 

“All for an android-”

“Shut it, dickwad,” Tina snapped at him, “All of this shit is going to be used against you in a court of law, or did you start monologuing before Gavin could read your rights? Pro tip, if you’re being arrested for torturing a DPD officer, arguing technicalities like “androids can’t really be DPD officers” looks REALLY bad on you.” 

Gavin stalked off, not wanting to hear another word. He found a dark alley near Anderson’s car and pulled out a cigarette. Conrad had been trying to get him to kick the habit, and he had, mostly. Conrad would forgive him for one cigarette after today. He watched Anderson’s car, his eyes widening when Connor carried his partner out. Carried. Because he was missing both his legs. Wires hung everywhere, and Gavin winced when a spare bolt fell from his body. Another officer had rounded up as many of Conrad’s parts as he could and was bringing them to the Cyberlife store. Conrad literally looked like scrap metal. 

Tin can, scrap metal, toaster...Gavin vowed after today that Conrad would never hear those words again, not from him or anyone in Gavin’s earshot, because he would beat the shit out of anyone who dared called Conrad toaster in front of him.


End file.
